The Best New Features in Samsung One UI 7
Every year, Samsung takes what Google did with its annual Android update—the Android Open Source Project (or AOSP), to be precise—and creates a fresh version of One UI, its dedicated mobile operating system with all the extra Samsung bells and whistles. This year we are getting One UI 7 based on Android 15.
One UI 7 comes pre-installed on the new Galaxy S25 phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra , but the rest of us are still waiting for it to arrive at the time of writing. Here’s everything new coming in the software update and when you can expect it to arrive on your Galaxy phone.
The best new features of One UI 7
Perhaps the most important new features in One UI 7 are the Now Bar and Now Brief. The Now Bar is Samsung’s answer to Live Activity on iOS, showing relevant information including sports scores, map directions, workout stats, media playback controls and stopwatch timers right on the lock screen.
There’s also Now Brief, which gives you regularly updated summaries of the information you need throughout the day. For example, you can receive alerts about upcoming meetings, a weather forecast for the rest of the day, or summary statistics from Samsung Health.
As you’d expect, there’s a lot of AI here: writing assistance tools have been updated to make it easier to rewrite, summarize, and compose text in any app and using any Android keyboard. There are also AI-powered call transcriptions that let you record phone conversations while you’re on a call, as well as improved AI-powered search with natural queries in the Samsung Gallery app.
A more minor change is related to the adaptive charging settings. In One UI 7, you can set a charging limit that goes beyond the standard 80% and 100% options. if you want charging to stop at 85% or 90%, it’s now possible if you delve into the battery settings.
In terms of device maintenance, One UI 7 follows Android 15 by making app archiving a system-level feature (previously it was inside the Play Store app). This means that if you have apps that you don’t use often, you can clear out most of the associated data to free up space without having to do a full reinstall—this will save you time if you need to go back to the app again (in terms of logging in and setting it up). One UI 7 will also recommend apps that it thinks should be archived.
One UI 7 also includes a fairly complete visual overhaul. It looks cleaner and more modern than One UI 6, with icons, widgets and menus that are a bit more colorful and easy on the eyes. The Quick Settings and Notifications panels are also split, so you’ll need to swipe down from different sides of the screen to see them, although there’s a setting that lets you go back to the old combined panel if you prefer that.
Finally, Samsung has also slightly updated the stock Camera app with a more intuitive approach to the interface that makes it easier to access pro-grade photography tools (while keeping them well hidden in case you never need them). Like other visual changes, this makes the software look fresher and easier to navigate.
When will One UI 7 be released?
Samsung recently confirmed that One UI 7 will be available on at least some older phones sometime in April, although the company hasn’t provided a full list of devices that will receive it (perhaps because it’s not sure). The Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup is sure to get an update as the software has been available in beta for these phones since December.
Since the launch of the beta program, it has been expanded to include the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, with support for the Galaxy S23, Galaxy A55 and Galaxy Tab S10 series of tablets coming soon. However, since all these devices are joining the beta at different times, it is unclear whether they will receive the finished version of One UI 7 by April.
Generally speaking, Samsung typically offers four years of Android updates for its flagship and mid-range devices, so phones starting with the Samsung Galaxy S21 (from 2021) may well be eligible, but this is just a rough guess rather than an official confirmation, and it’s hard to say how long it might take for the software to fully roll out.
There also remains some confusion over which phones will get which One UI 7 features – again, Samsung hasn’t been very specific about this. There have been speculations that features like Now Brief could remain exclusive to the Galaxy S25, which would likely boost sales of the new devices.